Necessary
by AwakeningEden
Summary: He wasn't sure when. He couldn't recall where. But it all remained the same. [KibaIno]


Because, why not? :)

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Kiba didn't remember how it began.

It could have been the curve of her smile, soft pink lips ghosting against fair skin. It might have been her laugh, ringing clear and pretty like wedding bells on a summer's day. Or it was possibly the way her hands delicately met her hips when she was listening in on a conversation, be it about gossip or a mission briefing.

He wasn't sure when. He couldn't recall where. But it all remained the same.

Every smile, every laugh, every sway that caught his attention sent his skin bristling, a quiet yearning that wound tight around his fingers. A snarl would occasionally escape him, the unbearable ache crawling up his back and twisting at his nerves. The temptation to run away to his team's training grounds and howl into the sky, until every unquenchable throbbing in his chest vanished intensified after every occurrence.

His teammates would seldom send him curious glances at his behavior, but both seemed to deduce amongst themselves that Kiba didn't like her for whatever reason. And who could really blame them? To the untrained eye (and perhaps even to the most perceptive), Kiba's tense posture, curled fists and narrow eyes all pointed to a slow simmering loathing concealed just below the surface.

Maybe the only one who ever noticed was the one she was born to belong to.

It was just his luck, really. To fall for women who were already hopeless loss causes to another. He had already been so late with Hinata. By the time he noticed her beauty, her soft spoken charm and gentle, fragile elegance, she had poured all her heart and soul in someone so painstakingly similar (so painstakingly _different_) to himself. It had taken some time for him to adjust to the idea that Hinata would never turn her head his way, for one reason or another. Either she would end up with her childhood fantasy or she would set her sights on someone of stark contrast; someone who would never remind her of what she could have had if pink hair and green eyes hadn't blurred his vision.

Besides, he noticed the way Neji smiled at her when she told him a terrible joke. Or how Shino pressed his hand against her shoulder when comforting her after another fight with her father. The heart of the heiress was sought by many and Kiba, for all his boasts and charm, knew he was no match for such stubborn men.

As his crush on Hinata waned, he set his sights on the kunoichi from Team Gai. Opposite to his teammate in every sense of the word, she had a reserved ferocity coupled with a jovial mischief. They had first talked on the outskirts of the open markets. Her brown eyes had sparkled despite the gray clouds and threat of rain and he couldn't help but wonder what she looked like with her hair down and her lithe form swept up in the folds of a green dress.

He should have caught on the moment he thought of the color. It seemed to be the only one she could see.

Rock Lee was not the obvious choice, but he was most certainly the right choice. His teammates and the rest of the rookie gang figured Tenten, if she would end up with a teammate, it would be Neji. That goes to show how shallow even the most thoughtful could be at times. Just because two of their three classmates were preoccupied with the broody, dark-haired avenger didn't mean the girl who smiled brightly when holding up a new set of kunai was just the same. She too was a person fostered by hard work, instilled with an intense determination only unnoticed due to the flamboyant antics of her chosen.

It had been obvious, really. Their nonsensical bickering, his reckless encouragement, her unguarded blushes…perhaps it wasn't obvious to anyone else or even to the two involved. However, Kiba was all too familiar with the quick, miserable pang lodged into the pit of his stomach when encountering the object of his infatuation with the one they irrevocably loved. And as much as it pained him to turn his head a second time, he knew it was for the best. Heartbreak would catch up to him sooner or later, no matter how long his flame held out for.

He tried to swear off women after that. Flirting with the local village girls on a mission was still on his agenda (_always_ on his agenda), but nothing could be too serious. Suffering through two unrequited crushes helped him realize it was too early to get so attached. He was young and wild, free and untamed! So what if his friends had already found their soulmates? There would be plenty of time for him.

…

It happened all too soon.

Maybe three months had passed. Or perhaps just two. He still misplaced the when and the where and the what. Yet, despite his blotchy memory, it still happened.

His heart called out for Ino Yamanaka. Morseo than Hinata or Tenten or any other pretty little thing he goggled at.

And she was the most hopeless case of all.

Kiba knew. Sakura knew. Hell, maybe Naruto knew. It mattered little that Ino had fallen for the bastard early on in life or her chosen's eyes drifted towards the deserts of Suna on occasion.

If there was any such thing as a love bound by fate, Ino and Shikamaru embodied it, body and soul.

Both didn't seem keenly aware of this, but such was the typical predicament when it came to the parties involved. They would discover it eventually, whether it be at a small birthday gathering in September or on cold terrains miles away from their home. One glance and that would be it. Fate would intervene and they would be swept up in its tide, no matter how desperately they tried to hold onto to the hands of another.

And no matter who tried to dive in and swim out after them.

As soon as he realized his feelings, Kiba did everything in his power to whisk them away. He went out on several dates with young ladies he had met around the marketplace, hoping they would arouse a similar reaction as Hinata or Tenten had. Warmth bubbling across his stomach, a drowsy lightheadedness whispering against his neck. Anything to dismiss the churns and whirls and tickles that sparked whenever Ino fell into his presence.

Nothing worked. All the dating and kissing and touching and praying did little (if anything at all). The sensations, good or bad, were there to stay and Kiba cursed himself for his bitter luck. Of all the women in the world, his heart was set on the most unattainable, the red string so tight around her finger it was near impossible to break.

What pissed him off the most about the whole ordeal was Ino's continuing infatuation with the man clearly never meant for her. It broiled his blood every time the bastard's name was mentioned and she would look longingly at a nearby window, sighing and recalling lost times. Couldn't she get it through her thick skull that he wasn't coming back to the village? That he wasn't meant for her? The questions danced amongst his head and he would bite back a hiss, his dog whimpering at Kiba's perilous disposition.

Why couldn't she just get over him?

Why couldn't_ he_ just get over _her_?

Months passed and his feelings still couldn't be disposed of. He stopped tricking himself into fancying other women, stopped trying to reminisce on his past affections for Hinata or Tenten. This was it. His feelings for the blonde damsel of the Yamanaka clan continued to stew, unrelenting to his pleas to let them wither away. He didn't know how long he would have to wait or just when (_if_) his infatuation would die down. All Kiba could do was continue to grind his teeth and dig his feet into his boots whenever she sauntered by, oblivious to the misery she bestowed.

And then.

_She was crying._

Ino Yamanaka was crying, a weeping mess surrounded by their friends, because they were potentially considering offing the (_raving mad_) bastard she still pined for.

The fucking idiot.

Didn't she understand how easy she had it? Just around the corner was her chosen, his eyes fixated on her face buried in trembling hands. All she had to do was look up and seek his comfort and there he would be, telling her it would be alright, they would get past it, so on and so forth. Hell, maybe this could even be the moment they figured it out. Just the thought riled him up, his arms crossed tightly against his chest, body rigged in contempt.

There was no point to her crying. There was no point to his yearning.

_There was no point._

Another sniffle and he's done in. Months of bottled frustration unleashed in three words:

"Quit crying, Ino!"

It felt good to say them. To yell at her. To finally do something about the deep, foreboding whim stretched across his skin by just the sight of her.

But the sense of release doesn't last long.

"Kiba, don't talk to her like that!" Of course. Of course it had to be Tenten who threw his words back at his face. It made sense since she was always so protective of kunoichi. Maybe she recognized the situation, maybe she didn't.

Fate just felt like biting him in the ass that day. "Ino is - "

Ino was what? Ino was in love with the wrong fool? Ino was cursing her own stupid fate? Ino didn't want to get her hands dirty?

Ino could do whatever the hell she wanted to, but Kiba had had enough.

"What else can we do?" he shot back to the one blinded by green, "It's not like it was before!"

Tenten was silenced, but Ino's hands still shook and her tears still slid down her cheeks. Nothing was like before. That meant it was high time Ino moved on and accepted her fate.

If only Kiba had the will to do the same.

Because months passed and the war continued on. And she would still look out the windows and his fingers would still ache and neither she nor her chosen had discovered the other.

Nothing and everything changed all at once.

It was only minutes after her father had died when she still recalled the unyielding love for a broken boy. When she and her chosen fought on. When she ruthlessly plunged into the mind of a lunatic and honored the last remnants of her father's memory. When she slipped back into consciousness and her chosen was a bit too far to catch her.

Kiba slid against the dirt and caught her and his fingers ached no more.

"You all right?" he managed to growl out, combination of adrenaline and closeness almost too much to bear.

Her eyes opened, pools reminiscent of the sky surprised at his voice, "Uh…yeah."

Kiba could have laughed. He could have cried. The way she looked at him, her breath hitched and arms tense…had it not been for the chaos unfolding before them, he might have known.

Fate never intended it.

Kiba Inuzuka and Ino Yamanaka just became necessary.

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I really had no idea where I was going with this, but I like it just the same. The ending is meh, but I really don't know what else to do with it.

So..hope you enjoyed!


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